


loving you is like a caffeine fix - it wakes me up in the morning and it wont let me sleep

by ffslynch



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Akaashi Keiji Is So Done, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Fluff, Kozume Kenma is a Little Shit, Kuroo Tetsurou is a Good Friend, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28088880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ffslynch/pseuds/ffslynch
Summary: 'You’re my jerk barista who purposely screws up my order when I order my caffeine fix AU'
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Kozume Kenma
Comments: 2
Kudos: 70





	loving you is like a caffeine fix - it wakes me up in the morning and it wont let me sleep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ValeReads](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValeReads/gifts).



> This is a coffee shop Au where no one drinks black coffee because [Vale](https://twitter.com/readsvale) doesn’t like it.
> 
> Merry Christmas Vale, you’re one of the best things that happened to me this year! You’re one of the funniest, kindest, most thoughtful people I know, and I am so ridiculously glad that we are friends! I hope you enjoy this little akaken fic as a Christmas gift!
> 
> (Also, a huge thanks to [Catt](https://twitter.com/BlastyCatt) for beta reading this me!)

There were few things in life that Kenma knew for a certainty that he truly, fully, loved. Video games, apple pie, his parents, and his best friend, Kuro. 

In the same fashion, there were few things that Kenma truly, fully, hated. Losing, being judged, weakly developed characters, and coffee. 

Kuro had wiggled his way into the first list early on in their lives, which meant that despite Kenma’s loathing for coffee, he found himself working at the Kuroo’s ‘Black Cat Café.’

It wasn’t that bad, in all honesty - having a salary wasn’t bad at all, the Kuroo’s always provided apple pie leftovers and other sweets at the end of his shift, and because he took early morning shifts, he usually got sleep-deprived students that were too tired to try and make small talk. They just took their overly sugary or awfully bitter drinks and left. 

The issue had started around a month before, with the slow approach of finals season in university. It was early on enough that the café wasn’t too full right on from the start, but there were already a few nerds and overthinkers popping in more frequently than usual. One in special never failed to call Kenma’s attention.

Akaashi, the regular with eye bags, tired bright blue eyes and soft, smooth black hair and piles and piles of printed text and different coloured highlighters. 

He was an absolute and complete mess. He ran his hands over his hair, over and over again, until it was completely messed up. Akaashi needed glasses, badly, but it must have been a recent change as he seemed to forget it every so often, squinting at his papers as if he was angry at them and repeatedly rubbing his eyes. Eventually, he would look to the side and scoff at himself upon finding his glasses neatly laid on top of his other papers. He would then slowly slip then back on and keep reading, until his next break, just to repeat it all over again. 

It never failed to make Kenma chuckle to himself, and he always failed to hold it back. 

The worst part is that the boy is attractive. Unfairly makes-Kenma-forgets-his-words attractive. Messy hair, grumpy faced and semi-blindness and all. 

He also has the worst taste for beverages, constantly coming up to ask for coffees, all black with no cream or sugar, and it revolts Kenma to imagine drinking that. But the pretty face and the smooth, straight voice of the tired student always makes Kenma feel slightly tingly and even more nervous than he already usually is, so he just nods repeatedly, as he writes down his name and order, slightly blushing. Akaashi just has that effect on Kenma, and it’s quite annoying but Kenma can’t really help it.

Which meant, obviously, that Kuroo caught up on Kenma’s crush fairly quickly. 

“Just ask him out” Kuroo says, rolling his eyes and Kenma scoffs, because Kuroo doesn’t get it.

He had always been good at talking with other people, of charming them and keeping them interested in him. His mentality of ‘what’s the worst thing that can happen’ made it so easy for him to risk himself, to flirt with people he thought of as attractive, to say outrageously bold things such as ‘what’s your name?’, ‘are you single?’, ‘you’re really pretty’, or ‘I know we just met, but would you like to go on a date?’. 

‘Just ask him out’, Kenma huffs to himself. The audacity. 

But Kuroo wouldn’t stop, because of course he wouldn’t. He had seen Kenma backtrack his crushes and not confess and then painfully watch them move on and do his best to get over them without ever confessing, over and over again. After they went to university, especially, he had been pushing Kenma more and more to go out of his comfort zone, to flirt with people or at least accept when they flirted with him. Kenma did try, and most of the time it was good. He met some nice people in university, and had some great dates here and there which he wouldn’t complain, but flirting was still pretty much something that made him way too nervous. And with Akaashi was no different - especially taking into account that he came to the café daily. If Kenma made him uncomfortable it would be just way too awkward to see him every day. Or even worse, he could never come back at all. He could think Kenma was a weirdo or a creep or accuse him of harassment or something. No, it was better to just not say anything. Besides, once again, Akaashi was just too pretty. Even in his tired and overworked state, he almost never failed to just knock the words out of Kenma’s mouth. He would hand over the money, muttering a quick ‘thank you’ and Kenma’s brain would turn to mush.

Kuroo, of course, did not care at all. It’s just another Thursday, when he brings the topic up again.

“If he’s attractive enough to make you look as if you’re in the middle of a video game battle whenever you’re handling coffee, then I think it’s worth it for you to just risk yourself a little.” Kuroo says “If you don’t do anything, I might have to start interfering. We’re getting tired of watching you pining.” at that, Kenma raises an eyebrow.

“Who the hell is ‘we’?” he asks, and Kuroo opens his arms, as best as he can without knocking over any of the syrups, empty cups or menus displayed for patrons.

“Me and the whole coffee shop. It’s painful to watch Kenma.” Kenma rolls his eyes at him.

“You’re ridiculous” he says, and Kuroo chuckles and bumps his hip against him on his way to the kitchen.

“I’m going to check on the pastries” he says before letting out a low whistle. “Seems like it’s your favourite time of the day” he says, and disappears behind the doors. Kenma looks up to the door and his breath catches in his throat when he sees Akaashi walking in. He approaches the counter, with his tote bag that looks like it’s about to rip at any second from the weight of the books inside of it, his hair pressed against his forehead, peeking from under the beanie, and his glasses slipping down from his nose, an angry red mark on top of it. Objectively, Kenma knows that none of these things are attractive. Regardless, his face still gets warm and mouth a bit too dry. Akaashi is just pretty like that. 

The transaction goes as it usually does, the same ritual as ever - Kenma taking a deep breath before saying his scripted intro.

“Welcome to the Kuroo’s black cat café, what can I get you?”

“ Good morning, I’d like a small black coffee, please. My name is Akaashi” Akaashi mutters, handing him the counted money. Kenma nods

“Right away. Thank you for the preference” Kenma says, before handing him his receipt and turning around to get ready on the coffee. He is grabbing the paper cup, when he notices Kuroo’s face pressed against the glass window on the door for the kitchen, disappointment in his eyes.

“Talk to him” he mouths and Kenma shakes his head furiously. Kuroo squints before mouthing again:

“Do it or I will.” A threat. Kenma had been friends with Kuroo for too long to know that he wasn’t joking around and it would be stupid of him to ignore. Damn bastard. 

Kenma raises his hand in defeat and turns back to the cup, serving the coffee, trying to come up with some, anything to say. He can feel Kuroo’s stare through the window, and the idea of him coming and flat out asking Akaashi out for Kenma is just nightmare material.

In a moment of panic, Kenma did the only thing he could think of. The one thing that always pissed people of, that always made them come back and complain and pull him into long conversations - he messed up the drink. One moment it was a black coffee, two seconds later he had filled it up with almond milk, caramel syrup and whipped cream. 

His hands were mildly sweaty as he handed the drink over, doing his best to keep a straight face. Akaashi reaches over, looks at the drink and scrunches his nose a little, squinting (he had forgotten his glasses again, the idiot) at it. Certainly he is confused, Kenma thinks. Certainly he will say something, and then Kenma will have to apologize and remake his drink and maybe give him a ginger cookie and then talk to him next time to make sure everything is perfect, and maybe introduce himself and-

When Kenma snaps back to reality, a second later, Akaashi had already turned around and was halfway back to his regular seat by the window. Maybe one messed up coffee wasn’t enough for him to say anything. 

So Kenma kept doing it. Every day, a different sugar loaded concoction that was as far away as possible from the plain black coffee kept coming up. Kuroo notices, of course, and first he just laughs at Kenma’s panic reaction, losing no time in making fun of Kenma.

“Did you just put mint in his coffee? You know that’s not for everyone” he points out, one day. Kenma only nods, humming.

“Put chocolate syrup too”

“You’re evil, Kenma” Kuroo says, stifling a laugh 

“He will say something. It’s disgusting, he has to.”

“Ok..I hope so, cause these drinks are expensive. You’re going to make us go broke if you keep that up instead of just asking for his number like a regular person would” Kuroo points out, before whistling “I don’t know, I might have to bring this up to mum- I mean, the owner.” He points out and Kenma glares at him.

“You leave your lunch break 30 minutes earlier every day to see your stupid crush go by running with their sports team, and I never said a thing. Do you think the owners would like to know that?” Kenma asked, and Kuroo gulped before nodding and laughing at him again.

“Who knew you were so ruthless when it came to love affairs Kenma-kun” he joked, using the nickname he knew Kenma hated. “Add those gross caramel marsh mellows next time, I don’t think I’ve seen one people that ordered enjoy them” he advises, and Kenma nods, agreeing. 

So Kenma keeps his plan, and Kuroo watches, doing his best to not laugh at the disaster that is the whole situation.

However, things do not go as planned. Akaashi never...says anything. Never contests or complains, just grabs his sparkly, colourful, covered in whipped cream and syrup drinks that he most certainly did not ask for, and goes back to studying it. Akaashi’s minimal recoil at the sight of the drink the first time it happened is as far of a reaction as Kenma gets. It’s driving Kenma insane. 

Like 90% of the population that currently attends university, Akaashi is tired. He is just truly exhausted all the time. University is just a bottomless hellhole, and he keeps falling like Alice on her way to wonderland. 

When he informed his parents he was pursing a degree in literature, they were not happy. They wanted him to be an engineer, or a lawyer. Something that made him contribute to society in important ways, that gave his existence meaning. That gave him a large bank account. They said he would regret, that he had so much potential, that he would starve. They said he was taking the easy route. Ha! If only they could see him now. 

Akaashi barely slept any more, in between reading books and theoretical texts, writing essays and his freelance side job editing papers from students from other areas, there was barely time to do anything else. His tiny apartment was messy, piles and piles of books and papers everywhere and empty food containers. Most days he came in, made a beeline to his bed, crashed, and was right out the next morning. It really was a place to sleep, instead of living. He spent most of the time at the university, in classes or working. The best part of his day, however, was his morning study sessions, at the most wonderful coffee shop near the campus. 

The Kuroo’s Black Cat Café was warm, well illuminated, mostly silent with just the right amount of background noise and the prices are fairly cheap. All in all, it is the perfect place for a worn out, financially distraught student. 

The café was his paradise. Except for this odd thing that had been going on for a while now - his coffee orders were never right. Akaashi thought it was physically impossible to fuck up a simple black coffee, but apparently he was wrong. He had gladly turned a blind eye to it, thinking that maybe the barista was just as exhausted as he was, or maybe he was just distracted. But it kept happening, again and again, and Akaashi had no idea what to do. He was just too socially awkward and anxious to ever bring it up, especially when it had been going on for weeks now. They would think he is insane, or maybe laugh at him for taking so long to say something in the first place. Even worse: they might make Akaashi pay for all the drinks he had got, that were certainly way more expensive than a simple black coffee. Akaashi was a broke college student, he couldn’t risk that. He could barely afford the simple black coffee in the first place. 

The café seemed to have a pretty regular schedule of work, as whenever Akaashi came in, he had the same two baristas clocked in; one with messy black hair and the worst laugh Akaashi had ever heard, and the one who usually took his orders. The second barista was way more shy, and seemed to divide his facial expressions in between ‘mildly annoyed by his colleague’ and ‘being 3 seconds away from having a meltdown’. 

Akaashi knew that, because he observed the second barista a lot. Not even the sleep depravation and bone deep tiredness could have prevented him from noticing how pretty the man was. It may, or may not, have an effect on the frequency of his appearances in the coffee shop - after all, his university does have a perfectly functioning library and study room. Sometimes, Akaashi was a little bit happy that he did not have friends who were there aware of his daily rituals enough to call him out. 

He seemed to be very focused, and almost meticulous in some things, such as organizing the pastries in the glass containers, which only made the mystery of Akaashi getting anything BUT a black coffee even more confusing. 

It all came to a halt on a Tuesday. Akaashi walked in, too tired and buried under his winter scarf and beanie, ready for another cup of sugar and whichever insane mix of syrups the barista had for him that day. In all honesty, he wasn’t even paying that much attention, too focused on the analysis ‘No longer Human’ that he had to work on today. 

Akaashi gets in line, and there are only two people in between him and the blonde barista. However, when it’s practically his turn, and he starts digging for change on his pocket, the black haired barista came out of the kitchen and lightly hit his hip against the other boy, pushing him to the side and taking his place at the register.

“Boss wants to see you. She needs you to taste test the new apple tart. Wants the opinion of a connosuir.” 

The blonde barista looks at Akaashi and blinks, before looking back at the other barista.

“I’ll go in a minute.”

“Now. I can take over here” he offers, with a smile that in all honesty makes Akaashi’s insides go a little cold. He’s conniving, that one. The other barista looks back at him, with bunched eyebrows, looking frustrated and more annoyed than Akaashi had previously seen him. 

They exchange a few angry looks, lots of silent emotions and eyebrow movements, before the blonde barista muttered a ‘fine’, and disappeared behind the doors that lead to the kitchen. Akaashi feels like he’s watching an entire conversation in a language he doesn’t know, that he could never learn. ‘They must have been working together for a while’ he thinks, to have achieved such a level of intimacy and familiarity with each other, to the point that saying words out loud was an unnecessary extra step.

Maybe they knew each other before working together. Maybe they were friends. Maybe they were a couple...Oh, God, what if-

Akaashi’s fast train of thoughts with the bright label of anxiety on the side gets interrupted by a voice calling him out. He blinks and looks up, settling back in reality, to find the black haired barista starring back at him with a smirk on his face. Akaashi realized he had been staring at the door and quickly turned back to the man in front of him, slightly blushing.

He is about to open his mouth to order, when the man pushes a large cup of black coffee on his hands. Akaashi blinks and before he can even say anything, the guys is already talking:

“Listen, his name is Kenma, and he is shy, but really a great person and very handsome, what I assume you know because 1) you have eyes and also 2) you just stared at his ass with your mouth hanging open when you realized he wasn’t the one serving you today, even though he hasn’t given you the correct order for like three weeks now.” Akaashi is definitely blushing now, stuttering some excuse, but the barista simply rolls his eyes “Oh please, don’t even try. His name is written on the sight of the cup, and he is also interested. Just do us all a favour and text him, ok?” Akaashi can only nod, speechless.

“I… I haven’t paid yet.” He spits, slowly, and the man gives him a sleazy, satisfied grin. 

“It’s on the house. Thank you for the preference! Next” He says, already turning to the person behind Akaashi on the line. He has no option but to nod again and move away, making his way to his favourite sit at the back of the café. He looks at the cup, where the name and number have been scribbled.

Kenma.

Akaashi savours the name, as he opens his material and tries to get started on his work. 

He actually takes three days to gather courage to even save Kenma’s number (that he had written on his notebook, afraid of accidentally throwing the cup away), and open the message app. 

But he can’t, he just can’t. Everything he types out seems awkward or even creepy somehow. It’s creepy that he knows Kenma’s name but isn’t even sure if Kenma knows his - I mean, sure he was a regular who went in every time and stated his name every time, but maybe Kenma could have forgotten or never learned his name. The other barista did say that Kenma was also interested, but what if it was a lie? Or he had misinterpreted the situation? 

Akaashi was freaking out, he had to admit. And if he was going to go and humiliate himself and risk losing his favourite study corner, then he would rather just go all out and do it face to face. The pain would be way worse, if he got rejected, but at least he would feel way less weird doing it. 

So the next day, he marches into the coffee shop later than usual, around the time he would usually get ready to leave, cause if this goes badly he just wants to be out of there as soon as possible.

Kenma is at the register, as usual, and Akaashi clearly catches him by surprise as he he hesitates ans stutters a little bit to give his intro, but Akaashi interrupts him.

“I’m Akaashi” he says, and Kenma stops, before nodding.

“I know.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah...You - You come in every day. Kinda hard to forget.”

“Right, yeah...You always get my order wrong tho, so I thought maybe-”

“I do it on purpose.” Kenma sputters, and they both look at each other with wide eyes, both shocked by Kenma’s confession. “I...I’m sorry. I just thought that you’d come back and talk, and then I could introduce myself, but you never did so...Yeah. Sorry.”

“Oh.” Akaashi says “You just...You wanted to introduce yourself?”  
“Uh, well...Yeah” Kenma gulps “I’m Kenma.”

“I know.” Akaashi says and Kenma frowns, and before he can say anything, Akaashi continues “I was wondering if you’d like to go on a date.” At that, Kenma seems to blush, mouth slightly open “It’s perfectly fine if you’re not into it and this is a no, I completely understand and-”

“Two o’clock.” Kenma interrupts him, and it’s Akaashi’s turn to look at him with furrowed brows. “My shift ends at two o’clock, if you want to do something. I don’t have classes this afternoon, but I do on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.”

“Oh” Akaashi says. “I’ll be here.”

“Ok” Kenma nods, and Akaashi nods back, not knowing what to do. “Do you want a coffee?” he asks, a side smile on his face and Akaashi presses his lips together, holding back a laugh.

“I’m actually kinda late, but maybe later, yeah?”

“Yeah” Kenma agrees, smiling a little. As Akaashi turns, leaves the coffee shop and rushes to his classes, he can’t really hold the smile on his face back, already counting the minutes for the afternoon.

He does come back, of course, almost as nervous as before, but all the anxiety settles down and almost disappears as Kenma smiles at him from the door of the coffee shop. He is wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, quite differently from the cafés uniform, but the messy low bun is the same. Akaashi feels a little warm inside as he watches him.

“Hey” Kenma greets him, a bit shyly.

“Hey. Want to go inside?” Akaashi asks, and Kenma shakes his head.

“A date at my work place doesn’t seem like an ideal situation” he says, laughing a little and Akaashi blushes.

“Oh! Of course, sorry!” he says, nervously, but Kenma just smiles again.

“That’s fine. I know a pretty good ramen place nearby, if you feel like it?” and Akaashi nods, enthusiastic.

“Sounds great” he says, and they get on their way.

They make light conversation, talking about university degrees, how they ended up there, which possible careers they might follow. They are almost at the restaurant, talking about how is it working at a café, and making light banter around Kenma’s failed plan to flirt with him, when Akaashi takes a deep breath, letting out his own confession.

“I hate coffee” he says, and Kenma stops dead on his tracks, slowly turning his head to him.

“What?” he asks, slowly.

“I hate coffee. I also don’t really like pastries. Usually, I just enjoy onigiri, from coffe places like this. And the tamagoyaki.” He explains, nonchalant. 

“Then... What?” Kenma asks, extremely confused. It looks like his eyes might pop out of his head “Why would you come to the coffee shop then? Why ask for a black coffee every single day?” Akaashi smirks at him, shyly.

“The barista was pretty.” he admits, enjoying the reaction of the red slowly spreading through the baristas face. Kenma gulps, feeling like he lost his ability to breathe a little, a warm feeling spreading on his face and through the insides of his chest.

Kenma knows it’s early to say, but he thinks his list of things he loved might grow a little in the near future. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, thank you so much for reading! I'm a sucker for coffee shop aus, and I actually another akaken fic that is also a coffee shop au so feel free to check that out, if you enjoyed this one!  
> If you'd like to see me talking about coffee and Kuroo, you can always find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/ffskuroo)!!


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